P-Bruins drop playoff opener in OT

PROVIDENCE — Andrew Joudrey’s goal at 2:21 of overtime lifted the Springfield Falcons to a 3-2 victory over the Providence Bruins in Game One of their Calder Cup first-round series before 4,106 fans at...

PROVIDENCE — Andrew Joudrey’s goal at 2:21 of overtime lifted the Springfield Falcons to a 3-2 victory over the Providence Bruins in Game One of their Calder Cup first-round series before 4,106 fans at the Dunkin Donuts Center on Wednesday night.

A left-handed shot, Joudrey beat Providence goalie Niklas Svedberg (31 saves) on the short side with a hard wrist shot from the right wing circle. Dana Tyrell and Frederic St. Denis were credited with assists.

Games Two and Three of the best-of-five series will be in Springfield on Friday and Saturday nights.

The Falcons’ game-winning goal came just after goalie Mike McKenna (35 saves) made a terrific glove save on a slapshot by Nick Johnson of the P-Bruins.

“It sucks to lose in overtime, especially on kind of a nothing play,” said Providence coach Bruce Cassidy.

“We lost our gap as defensemen, they picked up a bounce off the wall, and they beat Sveddy. It usually comes down to that. Games tend to end early in overtime. We had a chance before that with Nick Johnson and McKenna made a good save.

“Unfortunately, if you want to boil it down to two plays, that’s the difference in the game. We don’t capitalize and they get the stop and it goes the other way,” he said.

Joudrey scored a goal and an assist and recorded six shots on goal for the Falcons. For Providence, David Warsofsky had a goal and an assist and five shots and Ryan Spooner had a goal and an assist and four shots.

The first period was a special-teams battle as Providence, with the sixth-best power play in the AHL in the regular son, had four power plays and Springfield, with the league's second-best penalty kill, had three.

Providence got some good looks on the man advantage and finally broke through with the Falcons’ Tim Erixon in the box for tripping. Ryan Spooner fed the puck to Zach Trotman at the right point. He slid it across to David Warsofsky on the left and Warsofsky uncorked a blast from just inside the blue line that beat a screened McKenna at 13:41.

It didn’t take long for the veteran-laden Falcons to assert themselves in the second period. They tied the game just 2:46 in on a goal by Jean-Francois Jacques. The veteran winger took a pretty pass from Slovakian rookie Marco Dano and rifled a low wrist shot past Svedberg. Michael Chaput also was credited with an assist.

Unlike the first period, Springfield won races and battles for pucks as the second period wore on. They pinned the P-Bruins in their end of the ice and forced turnovers that led to good offensive chances. Springfield hit a couple of posts as they pressed around Svedberg, who kept the P-Bruins in the game with some fine saves.

The pressure put on by the Falcons paid off in a goal by winger Ryan Craig at 16:14 when he deflected a point shot by Patrick O’Neill past Svedberg from the slot, giving Springfield a 2-1 lead. Joudrey was credited with the second assist.

Providence was outplayed and outshot, 16-7, in the second period. Svedberg displayed his frustration with the way things were going with 11 seconds left when he said something to referee Terry Koharski and was slapped with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

“That’s not the first time he’s been called by that particular official. They have a history. He’s a well-respected official. I didn’t even ask (what was said). It is what it is. Clearly, we need to have better discipline,” Cassidy said.

“The second period could have been our worst of the season,” Cassidy said. “I told the guys that, and the good news is you’re only down, 2-1. I told them ‘Play like you’re capable of and see what happens. They’re a good team, but so are we.’

“We kind of had to pick their spirits up after the second and it showed. We were pretty good in the third,” he said.

The P-Bruins came out strong in the third period and tied the game on a goal by Spooner. His wrist shot from the right-wing circle beat McKenna at 7:43. Warsofsky and Fraser earned assists.

Providence had two power plays in the final 10 minutes as Cody Goloubef was whistled for holding at 12:22 and Will Weber for a high-stick at 17:02. But the Falcons were able to kill the penalties.

The P-Bruins outshot the Falcons in the final 20 minutes, 19-8.

Providence went one for seven on the power play in regulation time, while Springfield went zero for six.

Cassidy said that his team, not unexpectedly, was down after the loss, “but tomorrow they better not be. It’s a new day. The sun’s going to come up. . . . It’s one game that could have gone either way.”